Improvement in apparatus for the manufacture of iron and steel



e s genial @MTW www Efira sa ALEXANDER L. HOLLEY AND JOHN` B. PEARSEOF SWATARA TOWNSHIP, PENNSYLVANIA.

Letters Patent No. 86,304, dated Janna/ry 26, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT V1N APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE IRON AND STEEL.

V'I hexSchedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may conce/rit.-

Be it known that we, ALEXANDER L. HOLLEY and J OHN B. PEARSE, of Swatara township, -in the county of Dauphin, and State of Pennsylvania, have -invented certairrlgnew and useful Improvements in' 'Apparatus for the Manufacture of Iron and Steel; and we hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to the apparatus for the manufacture of iron and steel by the Bessemer or pneumL tic process; and consists in improved means of repairing the linings of converters.

The tuyeres, generally made of fire-clay, cylindrical in shape, and perforated with longitudinal air-holes, (by which air is forced into melted iron for the purpose of y decarburizing it,) and the refractory lining in the lower part of the converter' in which the tuyeres are set, the whole being called the bottorm are usually so much burned or Worn away after five or six heats as to require renewal.

, The practice has heretofore been to knock the tuyeres out of the lining, to insert new ones from without into the old holes in the lining, and to make the lining good around the tuyeres either by pouring granulated refractory material, made semi-liquid by water, into the mouth of the converter, and allowing it to settle around the tuyeres, which does not often make a good bottom;

or to wait twelve to twenty-four hours, until the converter should' cool enough for workmen to enterfaudI Work in it, and then to make the bottom good by ramrning the refractory material around the tuyeres. The latter method wastes much time, and reduces the .product of a given plant.

An improvementheretofore used in A some cases is the duplicate removable bottom, as shown .in figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings,

Figure l representing the lower part of a converter, in section, and

Figure 2, the removable bottom, with the tuyeres A and tuyereebox B in section.

The old bottom, including the tuyeres, having been removed from the converter, (iig. 1,) a new bottom, (fig. 2,) with the tuyeres previously rammed and dried, is inserted.

When the old bottom is pulled away from the lining D in the sides of the converter, it sometimes carries away some of the lining with it, and sometimes a part of the bottom is left-sticking to the lining, and must be knocked out. In any case the fracture is irregular, so that, when the new bottom (iig. 2) is inserted, there remains an irregular and often large space to'be filled and made sound with refractory material. To get into the converter, to fill this space, requires waiting till the converter is cool. To pour semi-Huid refractory material into the large and irregular space thus'formed yis vsubject to the risk of unsoundness, as in the case above placed. The joint cannot be inspected nor made goodiiom within the converter without waitin g for it to' cool, which again imposes ,the delay above mentioned.

Our improvement consists, iirst, in means and apparatus for making a sound joint between are-movable bottom and the lining of the body of the converter.

To enable others to construct and use our invention, we have shown several forms of it in the drawings, which forma part of this specification, and in whichand Figure 5 is a removable bottom,

When the old bottom'is removed, leaving the-irregular' fracture in the converter-lining, as shown at G, iig. '1, we insert a mould, H, fig. 4, into Ythe bottom-ofthe converter, and fasten it there in any suitable manner, by preference by means of three or four of the bolts I that 'hold the bottom when it is inserted into the converter.

We then ram the space J between the mould H and the lining D with retijacto'ry material, and, when it is set, we remove the mouldH.

The removable bottom (fig. 5) is prepared by forming or inserting new tuyeres, placing the mould K around them, and ramrning refractory materiat between the mould K and the tuyeres, and then removing the mould K. We make the interior of the monldK either'of the same or of a slightly larger diameter, and o f the same shape as the exterior of the mould H, so that, when the bottom (iig. 5) is inserted into the lower part of the converter, (iig. 4,) it will either exactly or almost exactly t Athe opening or seat in the lining D J.

By properly proportioning and litting the male and female moulds H and K, the joint between the bottom, whichV thus forms a stopper, and the lining, which thus forms a seat for the said stopper, will be perfectly closed. But, to insure a perfect joint, we prefer either to cover the sides L of the bottom, before it is inserted into the converter, with apaste made of lire-clay, or any suitable refractory material, or to pour semi-duid refractory material, such as ground silicious stone and lire-clay mixed with water, into the converter after the bottom is inserted, so that the semi-fluid material thus poured in shall run into any opening there may be between the Figure 4 is a section of the. lower part of a converter,

.or in any suitable manner.

bottom and the lining D J; or we sometimes use both these measures of securing a perfect joint.

The worn bottom may be removed, and the new bottom inserted, by means'ofnI screw, or a hydraulic lift, After it is inserted, the converter is dried and heated by means of a fire made in it in the usual manner, when it is ready for use.

YWorkmen can stand koutside of the converter and place and ram the refractory material J, g. 4, while the interior of the converter is so hot as to prevent their working inside of it. In order to protect them from the heat radiated'from the lining, thus enabling them to repair it while the interior of the converter is red hot, we employ a shield, M N, by preference made of two disks of sheet-iron, with an air-space between, and attached to the mould H.

We sometimesprefer to prepare the lining of the converter to receive the new bottom when thel converter is turned bottom upward,so that the workmen can ram the refractory material around the mould more directly, and without being' so much exposed tothe heat of the interior, of the converter. For this purpose, we suspend the mould H', Figure 7, centrally in the inverted bottom of the converter by any suitable means, as the beam P, and ram the refractory material directly down into the space J.

In case the lining D' is so much broken away that the refractory material thus rammed in would fall through the space J down into the converter, we stop the bottom of the space J by any suitable means, for instance, by the adjustablf,` stopper R, which is shown in plan by Figure 9, and consists of a piece of plate-iron, attached to a suitable handle. A

This stopper is inserted in one of the spaces S, and rests on the ring a, which is suspended from the mould HC By' means .of the handle, a workmanadjusts the stopper to the lining, so as to stop the lower part of the annular space J. When the space over the stopper has been rammed full, the stopper is removed and vlaid upon another.v part of the ring a, until the Whole space J' has been rammed full.

In order to make the space in the lining, after the oldbottom'has been puiled out of it, so true and regular that the mould H will nearly t the space J', fig. 7, and so that the space J will require but little fresh refractory material, we sometimes prefer to cut out the lining, for the insertion of the mould, by means of the cutter o, Figure 6, fastened to the hand-lever b, the fulcrnm of which is pivoted upon the beam e, laid across the bottom of the converter for that purpose, so that a workman, by moving the lever b up and down, and around the circle formed from'the centre, d, can cut the hole in the lining comparatively smooth and regular.

It will thus be seen that, by means of our said improvements, a bottom is set in a converter rapidly and soundly.

By means of the corresponding male and female moulds, the converter is tlted to receive the new bot- A tom immediately or very soon after the old bottom is jmade inside of the tuyere-box B.

In 'gs`. 4 and 5, previously described, this joint is made above the tuyere-boX, so that the tuyere-box is removed together with the bottom, and so that the joint in the air-pipe g and g', leading from the trunnion of the converter to the tuyere-box, is broken whenever a bottom is removed, and must be made good whenever a bottom is inserted; and in iigs. 4 and 5 a tuyere-box is required for each duplicate bottom, and the bottom must be inserted with the air-pipe g always in the same position, to iit the air-pipe g; but in iig the duplicate bottom consists simply of a plate,

k, or of the plates-k and m, the tuyeres' A', and surrounding refractory material f, and may be removed without breaking the air-pipe gf or removing the tuyereboX B', and may be replaced without reference to the position of the air-pipe.

The plate k must tit tightly against the bottom of the tuyere-box, to prevent the escape of air, and for this purpose we prefer t'o face oft' the interior of the iiange m and the top of the plate p, to form a tight joint.

The bottom may be inserted into place by any suitable means, such as va crane, letting it down into the converter when bottom upward, or a lift, raising it into place when the converter is mouth upward, as shown in the drawing.

rIhe bottom may be heldin place by any suitablemeans.

` We prefer several screws, h, as shown in fig. 3, with heads projecting through the walls j of the tuyere-box, so`as to be easily got at.

Should the bottom stick so fast as not to drop or pull out easily, it may be started oi' by setting up the vscrews't after slacking the screws h.

In some cases we use only a single plate lc for the removable bottom to rest upon; but in order to prevent the plate k from being warped by the heat of the lining, and at the same time to leave a space, in the usual manner, for any air that leaks from the tuyere-box to pass into the atmosphere, instead of blowing up into the lining, we sometimes employthe plate n also, leaving the air-space o between the plates.

The removable bottom, and the opening in the converter, into which it is inserted, are moulded, as here? inbefore described, or in any suitable manner, by means of corresponding male and female moulds. The bottom that is removed from the converter may be refurnished with tuyeres or air-openings, and got ready to be replaced, while the lining in the body of -the converter is being moulded or repaired; but we prefer to use one of several interchangeable bottoms, prepared and thoroughly dried and heated beforehand. The converter may' be taken apart at other places than those specified, and the lining made good by means ot' suitable moulds, substantially in the manner specitied.

Our improvement further consists in arrangingopen'- y its joint, with the lining, can be seen and made good on the inside by men standing on the outside of the converter.

This is explained by iig. 3, which is a section of a converter mounted on trunnions and standing upright, and Figure 8, which is a section of the upper part or nose of the converter turned down, so that the part of the lining T T is in a nearly horizontal position.

lVe form a hole in the upper part of the converter, by preference, directly over the bottom, as shown by iig. 3, and of such dimensions that workmen, standing upon or around the nose of the converter, can work through the hole upon the bottom and lining, by means of long rammers and other suitable tools.

We close the hole by a stopper, made, by preference, of arplate-iron cap, V, and flange W, lined with suitable refractory material, U. f

Nhen the stopper has been removed and replaced, there .will be a ragged annular opening around it, similar to that hereinbefore described, between the bottom, tig. 2, and the lining D, iig. l.

By turning the converter into the position, fig. 8, a workman can see and make good the annular opening, by looking and working through the mouth, X, of the converter.

In case an opening that requires stopping is made,

for any purpose, in the converter, atv a place where it' the hole, by means of' suitable moulgls, thus forming a Y seat for the stopper.

vVihat we claim, and desire to secure b v Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a converter with a moulded stopper and seat, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination of a shield with a converter, for protecting the workmen, substantially as and-for the purposes described.

3. The combination, with a converter and mould, of

the adjustable stopper R or its equivalent, substantially as and for the purposes described.

4. The combination, with a converter, of the cutter c, substantially as and for the purposes described.

5. A tuyere-box, in combination with a converterbottom, when the latter is' so constructed as to be capable of being introduced into the converter through the tuyere-box, substantially as described.

6. Au aperture in the converter', so located, Wit respect to the mouth and to the bottom of the converter, that the bottom can be worked upon through it, and so that it can be stopped through the mouth o the converter, substantially as described. p

A. L. HOLLEY.

JOHN B. PEARSE. Vitnesses :v

H'. S. NOU1=rsE, J osEPH Po'rrs. 

